Black Surprise

Black Surprise

No competition as far as I’m concerned. I really, really dislike black. So much so that I couldn’t bring myself to start something new. I couldn’t imagine creating anything that I’d like if I used a lot of black so decided to take an old canvas and start from there. Since I’d already discarded the canvas I wasn’t bothered about ruining it some more by painting it with black!

This is the abandoned canvas I used as the starting point. I’d covered up the original painting with left over medium and paints from other pictures and then given up on it. At one time there was even a wet wipe stuck on there (you can see the square shape if you look) but I removed it because it look really naff.

Here’s the next stage. I covered it in black and then used a kitchen towel to dab off most of the paint.

I then did the same again with red – my next most disliked colour. At his point the tissue paper was lifting from the canvas and annoying me so I took a palette knife to it and ripped it off!

To my great surprise I discovered the original painting underneath (which coincidentally had black on it) and quite liked the result. I outlined the rips with a black sharpie and ended up with this.

The textures are really interesting and I’d definitely use black and red as a wash in the future. I like the textured “frame” thing going on too. So all in all it was a really fun and very surprising experiment!

15 comments to “Black Surprise”

wow! It’s so great when “accidents” happen and the result is so pleasing. I find that’s almost always the case. I love this — the different layers give it so much depth. There’s something almost archeological about it.

amazing how sometimes discards can actually turn out to please one! For myself I do like black when properly used — which to me means to act as a contrast to make bright colours appear even brighter and I think that is what is accomplished with your work in this case…

I love seeing your steps and how you revealed the final piece of art! It is one of my favorite feelings when I can experiment with something and walk away with ideas and techniques to use in future pieces! So glad you shared this with Fall Fearless and Fly!

Not only did you ‘rip off the bandaid’ by using colours you don’t like it seems like you found a whole new world underneath your painting by ripping off the tissue. The outlining is like underlining the discoveries you made along the way.

I always find that art is filled with ‘happy accidents’… those things you don’t plan and at first are really annoyed that they happened, but then .. they turn out to be exactly what the piece needs! It’s always so much fun when it happens!